Tapestry: David Sharp gets ‘rush’ out of communicationCommunication has come a long way since the days when Kodiak Islanders vociferously paddled their kayaks from village to village to relay an important message. Today cell phones, the Internet and other quick ways of getting the word out are becoming so common that we take them for granted. The Al...

Southern Baptist volunteers find golden opportunities to serveSome feel strongly enough about a cause that they pay (and pray) for the privilege of volunteering for it. Sixteen volunteers from the First Baptist Church of Tecumseh, Okla. paid for their own airline tickets, housing and meals, as well as the curriculum and materials for the USCG Star of the Se...

Tapestry: Jim Brighenti was no 'ordinary' guyIf we’ve learned anything in Kodiak, it’s that there is no such thing as an ordinary person. I mistook Jim Brighenti for just an “ordinary guy” when he helped out at Katmai Wilderness Lodge in 1998. I was a cook and I’m not sure what his official position was. What I remembered most about him was...

Religion: St. Mary’s priest is man of many talents, interestsWhat does an image of a man riding a donkey say about God? Quite a lot, says Fr. Frank Reitter, St. Mary’s Catholic parish priest. “God is one who carries us; He’s the one who leads us home; He’s the one who bears our burdens,” Reitter explains. Reitter made this theological statement in a short ...

Tapestry: Gardening instincts kick in for Ginger Duncan at remote retreatHoophouses are becoming as common as banyas on Kodiak Island. And they’re just about as hot. Ginger Duncan found that out as she sweated away her summer days in her hoophouses and outdoor gardens at Alderwood Retreat on the shores of Kupreanof Strait. For years, Ginger and her husband, Stan, ran ...

Tapestry: Alitak superintendent finds purpose for everythingWoody Knebel, superintendent of Ocean Beauty’s Alitak processing plant, sees beauty in the ordinary. Everything serves an aesthetic purpose — even rusty wrenches that crumble with the slightest torque or an old wooden dory that was used in beach-seining operations at the turn of the century. The ...

Religion: Kodiak Island Experience…Alaska is nightmare’s dream come trueKodiak Island Experience…Alaska is a dream come true for Bud and Cherie Carter who spend summers at remote Kupreanof hosting visiting pastors and their wives who come for a week of rest and relaxation in a refuge from a busy, often hectic life. But this beautiful retreat on Kodiak Island’s west s...